


Butter

by TheLadyKing



Series: Erik's Harlem Home [8]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Other, Police Brutality, black death, it's quick but i dont want yall to not know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 19:49:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16290677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyKing/pseuds/TheLadyKing
Summary: Before Harlem there was Oakland. Before you there was Linda.





	Butter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing"- Fantasia, Summertime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall know me an editing not friends.

Steam filled the bathroom, sitting heavy in the air as I stood from the tub and grabbed a towel. I wrapped it around me, looking at myself in the small mirror above the sink. My hair was getting poofy again which meant mama would want to take the hotcomb to it pretty soon. I let my short nubby fingers trail through it and sighed when they came through easily. At least it wouldn’t take too long to fix.

 

I hated getting my hair straightened, hated the hot press of the comb against my scalp and the little sores sure to be there when I got burned.

 

I looked at my rosy cheeks, blooming red even under my summer skin, and smiled, turning this way and that to make sure all my skin was just as tan as it had been earlier that day.

 

“Come on Toya, I ain’t gon be gone long this time. My cousin said they got work for me down there, better than being here and not doing anything, right?” I could hear my father asking on the other side of the door.

 

I waited patiently for the sound of my mom’s in response but frowned as the two of them walked quickly down the hall and away from where I could listen in.

 

Daddy had only been back for three days this time, I didn’t want him to leave, but he was right. It was better to have him gone than have him in the house doing nothing. Mama would be mad either way but less mad with him out of her face.

 

I dressed quickly, throwing on the pajamas I’d pulled into the bathroom with me before washing up. The yellow of it bright against my skin. As quickly as I could I stepped out, rushing to the living room to see if I could catch the last bits of their conversation before my daddy disappeared again.

 

It wasn’t like when I was younger and he worked nights cleaning some law firm not to far from where we lived. He’d lost that job around Christmas the year before and things had been weird since with him ripping and running around looking for a new one.

 

And drinking.

 

I slid onto the couch, looking through the window to watch the two of them.

 

“Cause you an ugly son of a bitch, Roger!” my mama yelled, standing on the porch with her hands on her hips. Her hair moving in the soft autumn night breeze, the rollers at the ends clacking against one another as they moved. On the little path that lead to their gate, the one that separated our little home from the rest of the block, my daddy Roger stood smiling. His bright white teeth shining bright against the pink of his lips.

 

“Why you wanna be so damn mean to me for, Toya? Don’t I do right by you?” he asked, laughing breathlessly as he swayed drunkenly under the bright full moon.

 

My mama laughed and turned to look back at me, staring after the two of them through the large front window.

 

“Gone to bed, Butter,” my mama called, catching my eye. I frowned and hopped off the couch, rounding it and bounding out of the house and around her legs to my daddy’s waiting arms. He laughed and pulling me up high, pressing wet kisses against my cheeks as I giggled.

 

“Didn’t ya mama say go to bed? You giving her a hard time?” he asked, the freckles on his face seeming to bounce around right before my eyes.

 

I shook my head.

 

“Then what you out here for?” he asked, looking amused. My mom just smiled as she watched us.

 

“You come on inside, Butter. Let ya no good daddy do what he does best,” my ma said, her tone harsh despite the smile still playing at her lips. The air around us shifted suddenly, cooling rapidly where it had been light and warm.

 

My daddy pressed another kiss on my forehead before letting me slide out of his arms and back to the ground. “Don’t start with me Toya. I’m doing what I can,” he murmured, wiping at his sweating brow.

 

My mom ushered me back in the house closing the door slightly once I was inside. “I seen you down the block with them Roger. I don’t want you on that stuff. I accepted everything. I accept everything but I’m not gon with that. You hear me?” she asked. I pressed myself as close to the crack of the door as I could without being seen to try and hear my dad’s response back.

 

The low timbre of my father’s voice sounded though I couldn’t make out any of the words.

 

My mother laughed loud and long before I heard the creak of her walking to back to the door. Scrambling, I slipped on my feet and over the well worn rug towards my room. Trying to get out of sight before she caught me.

 

A moment later I’d hopped into my bed, raising the covers above my head just as my mother pushed the door open.

 

“You mind yourself, Butter,” she said. “And if you see your daddy over by that house, the one with the high gates, you tell me.”

 

I poked my head out from my covers and nodded quietly under her ice cold eyes. She’d looked so happy before but my mom’s moods had always been quick to change. Especially now with daddy not working like he had been before.

 

“You respond to me when I’m talking to you,” she barked, her voice bouncing off the walls to my ears, making me jump.

 

“Yes, ‘mam,” I muttered.

 

She nodded, watching me a moment longer. “I love you, Butter. Now go to sleep.”

  
  


The house down the street with the high gates was a pretty purple color, different from all the other houses in the neighborhood which were mostly a dusty white or some variation of tan. The gates were high up, way past my head, and reached almost all the way to the sky. I peeked through the diamond shaped links. Trying to see what it was about the house my momma ain’t trust so much.

 

It’d been three days since my dad had stopped by, drunkenly singing some old song to my mom just as she was catching up on her late night tv shows. It’d been nice to see them smile and talk to each other without anger lacing each word. Even if it’d only lasted a few moments.

 

Seemed like all they did anymore was argue. When daddy came around anyway, not that that was often anymore. Used to live in the house with us, used to do a lot of the things he didn’t do now.

 

“What you looking at?” a small voice asked me. I turned to face the owner of that voice and blinked up at the tall boy before me.

 

“Who you?” I asked, crossing my arms defiantly.

 

“I’m Tall,” he said, crossing his own long arms.

 

“I know what you is, but who is you?” I asked again.

 

He blinked, surprised for a moment before laughing. “Everyone just call me Tall.”

 

“You ain’t that tall. Boys older than you taller. My daddy taller,” I muttered.

 

He just shrugged and places his big hands on the top of the gate, pushing off the ground to vault over it. I watched, transfixed as he crested, his whole body blocking the bright sun for a long moment, before he landed on the other side, crouched.

 

“I’m Tall cause I’m the only one who can get over the gate,” he smiled.

 

“You better get from over there, my mama said this house bad,” I said suddenly scared for him, looking around to see if anyone else was around.

 

“This my house.”

 

I blinked once more. “Oh.”

 

“Yeah ‘oh’,” he laughed. “You wanna come over?”

 

I shook my head. “My mama don’t even want my daddy here.”

 

He just shrugged, smiling wide. “You ain’t ya daddy though, right? So come over.”

 

I sighed, looking around once more before nodding slowly to myself. “Okay, open the gate.”

 

He smiled back and lead me over to the closed gate door, pulling it open with ease to let me through. I stepped over, surprised at how green the lawn was, it looked much greener than it had on the other side of the gate. The house stood, looking even more purple than it had before too. I slowly walked behind him as he rounded the corner and ignored the front door.

 

I raised a brow but kept on behind him, wondering exactly how we were supposed to get inside if not through the front door. Though I knew some houses had back ones too. And large backyards to match, my friend from school had a house like that and she always had barbeques for her birthday parties. Her mama had a big garden too, full of plants they never let us touch, but I’d always wanted a backyard like that.

 

Not that we could at my house. Mama didn’t like dirt or mess and she probably didn’t have the time for it either. Not with all the shifts she’d been picking up at the clinic she worked at.

 

“Can you jump high?” Tall asked me, stopping in front of an open window at the back of the house. I shrugged, unsure. I’d never really tried before.

 

“I’ll help you in,” he said, jumping up and straight through. I waited a beat, wishing he’d had a backyard like my friend Qisha with a backdoor instead.

 

“Hold up,” he shouted after a long moment. I waited, kicking at a rock by my feet. Qisha’s backdoor led right to the kitchen which had always made it easier to get all the snacks out for the barbeques.

 

“You ready to jump?” Tall asked, his long arms reaching out to me from the big window. Behind him the room stretched into darkness and I wondered if I should even bother trying to get inside, suddenly afraid of whatever could be in there. “You coming?”

 

I sighed and steeled myself, counting quickly to three in my head before making the leap. I didn’t make it very far but Tall grabbed onto both my wrists before I could fall back down flat on my behind. He pulled, yanking me inside and onto the floor before I could even ask him to just let me go.

 

I yelped, hitting the floor and rolling, Tall laughing and on his back beside me.

 

“Ow.”

 

“You’re heavier than I thought!” he gasped, sitting up slowly, still laughing. I peeked over at him, laughing suddenly myself.

 

The two of us sat there, on the floor or whatever room he’d pulled me into, a good five minutes before we could catch our breath.

 

“So yall just gon be loud and shit, huh?” a new voice asked. I looked over, to see a dark figure sitting up on what looked like a small twin sized bed.

 

I scrambled back and away just as Tall flicked on the overhead light. I hadn’t even seen him get up and walk over to it. I blinked my eyes into focus, looking from a smiling Tall to the new person, another boy, who eyed me suspiciously.

 

He was lighter than Tall but not by much, and darker than me though, even with my summer tan still in place. I hadn’t faded out like my daddy and I probably wouldn’t even get close this winter. I’d started getting darker as the years past, not that my mom seemed too thrilled about it.

 

His hair was cut in a fade, a square tuft of hair sitting at the still on top. I watched him unfold himself from the covers, scooting to the edge of the bed when he was finally free.

 

I looked at Tall. “Who’s that? Your brother?”

 

The other boy huffed and Tall shrugged and plopped down next to the other boy. “I don’t got no brothers. This just Erik. He stay here sometimes.”

 

“Why? He aint got no home?” I asked, avoiding Erik’s annoyed gaze.

 

“What’s it to you why? You don't like me or something?” he asked, already face flushing red under his tawny skin.

 

I shrugged, crossing my arms. “I don't even know you not to like you.”

 

“Then why you asking so many questions for?”

 

“I’m just curious. I never seen you before.”

 

Erik smiled sharp, it changed his whole face. Made it look softer than the scowling did. “I seen you. You one of Qisha friends right?”

 

I nodded slow.

 

“You live over by her?” he asked, still grinning.

 

I shook my head. “I live down the block and around the corner. My house got a red door. Where you live?”

 

He nodded. “Close. I stay with Ms. Olfey. She one of them church ladies be out giving lunches and shit to kids,” he said.

 

I sat up straighter, listening.

 

“She real nice. Real old but real nice too. I live with her,” he finished.

 

Tall stood then, clearly bored. “Yall wanna play something?”

 

“Play what? You don’t got no toys or games or nothing Tall,” Erik shot back, turning to smile at me as I laughed.

 

“I got cards tho! We could play those,” Tall grumbled.

 

“Those my cards Ma O got for me ‘fore she went to bingo. You ain’t got shit, stop frontin’.”

 

Tall rolled his eyes and looked around before standing. He rushed over to a corner of the room behind me, digging into a pile of clothes before pulling out two boxes. He hopped over, showing us the boxes with a wide smile. “I got checkers _and_ dominoes,” he turned to me,” you know how to play dominoes?”

 

I shook my head. “I never played. Only watched my daddy play.”

 

Tall waved me off, still smiling bright and wide. “We could teach you. You know how to right, Erik?”

 

Erik scooted to the floor, sitting across from me. “Shit, I can whoop yall both in dominoes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to try my hardest to finish the other prompts I have left. And maybe finish this series out completely. I still have some kinda grand plans for the end but we'll see.


End file.
